Publicly-listed Chemrez Technologies Inc. is seeking to expand its oleochemicals business abroad to further boost the company’s growth.
In an interview with reporters following the company’s stockholders’ meeting yesterday, Chemrez chief operating officer Jun Lao said they expect exports to account for 80 percent of revenues in five years from a 30 percent share of last year’s P3.7-billion revenues.
Chemrez chief finance officer Francis Caluag said the company and its subsidiaries consistently double their revenues every five years.
“Going overseas is the logical step since there is not much room for growth in the domestic market,” Caluag said, noting that Chemrez already dominates the local market in all product categories.
Lao said the company remains on the lookout for new markets, preferably underserved areas where less aggressive companies have been reluctant to enter.
According to Lao, Chemrez has already gained footholds in new markets such as Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and other countries in the Middle East as well as in Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
“These ignored markets offer better opportunities, better prices and margins and longer lasting relationships with customers and dealers,” he said, adding that some cash-rich customers in these countries even pay in advance for their products before they are delivered.
Lao said the Middle East offers the biggest potential for their products, particularly their pioneering green products which respond to the current trend of using raw materials that are organic and friendlier to the environment.
He said the company is also looking at Europe as a potential market since it is a strong advocate for environment-friendly products.
Chemrez, the country’s leading producer of biopetroleum, resins, oleochemicals and powder coatings, has also been successful in expanding its market for water-soluble resins and powder coatings that likewise provide cost savings benefits to customers. — With Donnabelle Gatdula